Wisconsin ranks among the top 10 states from which people are fleeing, according to the 36th annual study of customer migration patterns by United Van Lines.

Wisconsin ranks 10th on the list with 55 percent of the moves being outbound.

Most of the top-10 states people are leaving are located in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions. At No. 1, New Jersey has the highest ratio of people moving out compared to those moving in. Of the 6,300 total moves tracked in the state last year, 62 percent were outbound.

The other states with the highest rate of fleeing residents include: Illinois, West Virginia, New Mexico, Michigan, Connecticut, Maine, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

“New Jersey has been suffering from deindustrialization for some time now, as manufacturing moved from the Northeast to the South and West,” says economist Michael Stoll, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. “And because it’s tied to New York, the high housing costs may also be pushing people out.”

The Northeast and Midwest also feature a comparatively high concentration of residents over 65, says Stoll, who tend to retire to states that are warmer and less expensive. That’s why Southern and Western states are some of the most popular places to move to.

According to the study, Washington, D.C., is the most popular moving destination, followed by Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina.

“The United Van Lines Annual Migration study shows the movement of people from frost belt to more sun belt states in the South and West,” Stoll said. “While big states such as California, Texas and Florida have more total moves than other states because of their sheer size, other high inbound states such as Washington, D.C., Oregon and the Carolinas may be attractive places to move because of their lower housing costs, more temperate climate, diversified and growing economies, as well as maturing manufacturing bases and high technology clusters.”